1.At daybreak,when loth to rise,have this thought ready in thy min d:I am rising for a man's work.Am I then still peevish that I am goin g to do that for which I was born and for the sake of which I came into the world?Or was I made for this,that I should nuzzle under the bed-cl othes and keep my- self warm?But this is pleasanter.Hast thou been mad e then for pleasure,in a word,I ask thee,to be acted upon or to act?Consider each little plant,each tiny bird,the ant,the spider,the bee,how they go about their own work and do each his part for the building up of an orderly Universe.Dost thou then refuse to do the work of a man?Dost thou not hasten to do what Nature bids thee.But some rest,too,is necessary.I do not deny it.Howbeit Nature has set limits to this,a nd no less so to eating and drinking.Yet thou exceedest these limits an d exceedest sufficiency.But in acts it is no longer so;there thou come st short of the possibility.
For thou lovest not thyself,else surely hadst thou loved thy nature also and to do her will.But others who love their own art wear themselv es to a shadow with their labours over it,forgetting to wash or take fo od.But thou holdest thine own nature in less honour than the chaser of metal his art of chasing,than the dancer his dancing,than the miser hi s moneybags,than the popularity-hunter his little applause.And these,when they are exceptionally in earnest,are ready to forgo food and slee p,so that they forward the things in which they are interested.But dos t thou deem the acts of a social being of less worth and less deserving of attention?
2.How easy a thing it is to put away and blot out every impression t hat is disturbing or alien,and to be at once in perfect peace.
3.Deem no word or deed that is in accord with Nature to be unworthy of thee,and be not plucked aside by the consequent censure of others or what they say,but if a thing is good to do or say,judge not thyself un worthy of it.For those others have their own ruling Reason and follow t heir own bent.Do not thou turn thine eyes aside,but keep to the straig ht path,following thy own and the universal Nature;and the path of the se twain is one.